Each first Friday of every month through 2016, I’ve invited some of my fellow wine writers the opportunity to join me here on binNotes | red thread™ to share a feature on some rare, obscure, or under-appreciated wine region for which they feel a special passion.

This month I turn the page over to Erika Szymanski, academic researcher at University of Edinburgh, writer, graduate student in science communication with a focus on wine and the wine industry at the University of Otaga, and author of The Wineoscope, a site about ‘Wine science, wine rhetoric, and other geekery.’

Today, Erika shares the joyful paradox of non-icon wines and New Zealand chardonnay…cheers!

“Everyone makes chardonnay. Chardonnay is therefore ubiquitous and boring. Everyone makes chardonnay. Chardonnay is therefore endlessly diverse and interesting. If you like chardonnay, you’re never going to run out of wines to try, and with just a little effort they’re all (okay; mostly all) going to taste different. Read more…“

Erika Szymanski. | Image: Courtesy University of Otago and the author.

Story and photos reprinted by permission of the author, Erika Szymanski.